Use of aids for smoking cessation and alcohol reduction: A population survey of adults in England

BACKGROUND: It is important for policy planning to chart the methods smokers and high-risk drinkers use to help them change their behaviour. This study assessed prevalence of use, and characteristics of users, of support for smoking cessation and alcohol reduction in England. METHODS: Data were used from the Smoking and Alcohol Toolkit Studies, which involve monthly face-to-face computer-assisted interviews of adults aged 16+ in England. We included data collected between June 2014 and July 2015 on 1600 smokers who had made at least one quit attempt and 911 high-risk drinkers (defined as scores >8+ on the full AUDIT or 5+ on questions 1–3 of the AUDIT-C) who had made an attempt to cut down in the past 12 months. Participants provided information on their socio-demographic characteristics and use of aids during their most recent quit attempt including pharmacotherapy, face-to-face counselling, telephone support, self-help materials (digital and printed), and complementary medicine. RESULTS: A total of 60.3% of smokers used aids in the past year, compared with just 14.9% of high-risk drinkers. Use of pharmacotherapy was high among smokers and very low among drinkers (56.0%(versus)1.2%). Use of other aids was low for both behaviours: face-to-face counselling (2.6%(versus)4.8%), self-help materials (1.4%(versus)4.1%) and complementary medicine (1.0%(versus)0.5%). Use of aids was more common among smokers aged 25–54 compared with 16–24 year olds (25–34,OR(adj)1.49,p = 0.012; 35–44,OR(adj)1.93,p < 0.001; 35–44,OR(adj)1.93,p < 0.001; 45–54,OR(adj)1.66,p = 0.008), with cigarette consumption >10 relative to <1 (10–20,OR(adj)2.47,p = 0.011; >20,OR(adj)4.23,p = 0.001), and less common among ethnic minorities (OR(adj)0.69,p = 0.026). For alcohol reduction, use of aids was higher among ethnic minority groups (OR(adj)2.41;p = 0.015), and those of social-grade D/E relative to AB (OR(adj)2.29,p = 0.012&OR(adj)3.13,p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In England, the use of pharmacotherapy is prevalent for smoking cessation but not alcohol reduction. Other aids are used at a low rate, with face-to-face counselling being more common for alcohol reduction than smoking cessation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3862-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.